Ancient Woodlands

Question 1

Name the three types of woodland and describe them

Answer 1

1) Plantations

Monocultures with even-aged trees in a row.

2) Secondary woodland

Woodland developed on waste ground following human clearance

3) Ancient woodland

Woodland continuously present since 1600 (many date back to the last ice age).

Question 2

In the UK, most communities head towards which climax?

Answer 2

Oak woodland

Question 3

Name the two native species of oak we have in the UK

Answer 3

1) Durmast oak (Quercus robber)

2) Sessile oak
Quercus petraea

Question 4

What is a nurse species?

Answer 4

A species of plant that facilitates the growth and development of other species beneath their canopy because they offer benign microhabitats for seed germination

Question 5

Give an example of a nurse species.

Answer 5

Juniper (Juniperus communus)

It occurs as a nurse species to yew in chalky soils in the south and is one of the UK’s three native gymnosperms.

Question 6

What is the formally correct way to identify an ancient woodland?

Answer 6

Identify maps of the woodland going back before 1600 and check for continuous presence.

Question 7

What are signs that indicate an ancient woodland?

Answer 7

1) Medieval forest banks

2) Indicator species.

Question 8

What are ancient woodland indicators (generally)?

Answer 8

Organisms that are highly adapted to the stable, predictable cycle of conditions in woods but are poor at long-range colonisation

Question 9

Name one of the most reliable Ancient Woodland Indicators (AWI)

Answer 9

Wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa)

Hoverflies are thought to favour this plant

Question 10

Name a snail that is only ever found in old, damp woodland.

Answer 10

The Scarborough snail (Spermodea lamellata)

Question 11

Which two groups make UK Ancient Woodlands important from a European perspective?

Answer 11

1) Epiphytic lichens –> we have some of the richest lichen floras in Europe thanks to our stocks of ancient oaks
2) Saproxylous assemblages

Question 12

What are saproxylous communities?

Answer 12

Communities of fungi and animals in standing but decaying timber

Question 13

Give three examples of saproxylic species

Answer 13

1) Rhinoceros beetle (Sinodendron cylindricum)

Larvae feed on rotting wood, particularly beech

2) Cardinal click beetle (Ampedus cardinalis)

found in brown-rotted oak heartwood.

IUCN status: Near threatened

3) The royal splinter cranefly (Gnophomyia elsneri)

Requires decaying but live beech trees. Is only found in Windsor forest and one site in Slovenia

Question 14

What is veteranisation?

Answer 14

Inflicting damage on trees to promote decay

Question 15

Mueller et al., 2007

Answer 15

Dead wood provides habitats for invertebrates and fungi

Question 16

Ferris and Humphrey, 1999

Answer 16

Woodpeckers rely on dead wood

Question 17

What is coppicing?

Answer 17

Cutting trees to ground level in a cycle (e.g. 5-10 year cycle) to maintain mosaic of habitats.

Question 18

Warren and Thomas, 1992

Answer 18

Butterflies prefer sunny conditions without direct shade. Nearly all species loss of butterflies in UK has been attributed to decline in coppicing.

Question 19

Gittings et al., 2006

Answer 19

In a study done on hoverflies, 80% were associated with open space habitats and would not be predicted to be found to be in closed-canopy habitats.

Question 20

Name one species that has declined because of lack of woodland disturbance.

Answer 20

The pearl bordered fritillary butterfly went extinct in Surrey due to lack of open space within woodland

Question 21

Describe a situation that required bramble bashing

Answer 21

The reddish buff moth only feeds off of sawwort and is confined to the Isle of Wight, where the colony was overgrown by brambles. So the scrub needed to be cleared. They used goats to do this (though this was abandoned after one goat got caught in an electric fence).

Question 22

What is Caledonian forest?

Answer 22

It is ancient forest found in the Scottish highlands.

It is a pine-birch woodland, which goes back to the last ice age.

Question 23

Describe the coverage of the Caledonian forest?

Answer 23

It used to cover most of central Scotland, but now it is confined to pockets around the Cairngorms.

Question 24

Name one Caledonian lichen that has become nationally dominant.

Answer 24

The pollution lichen (Lecanora conizaeoides).

It used to be only found in the extreme acidity of decaying pine logs in the Spey valley until widespread acidification caused by SO2 led to this species becoming the commonest lichen in the UK

Question 25

What are the main problems for Caledonian pine forests?

Answer 25

1) Initially, the decline was caused by logging for timber and fuel etc
2) Now deer are the main problem: graze on young saplings and prevent regeneration

Question 26

Why didn’t deer pose a problem previously?

Answer 26

They used to have natural predators, mostly wolves (also lynx and bears)

Question 27

Why is the introduction of the lynx controversial?

Answer 27

Farmers are afraid that the lynx will eat their livestock.

Same with wolves (but also because people are afraid of wolves)

Question 28

What is the solution to deer damaging Caledonian pine forests?

Answer 28

Fence them off!

Also, allow deer hunting.